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INCIDENT OCCURRED AT CROSSING BETWEEN CRYSTAL LAKE, WOODSTOCK
One dead following train-vehicle crash
Woodstock man suffered facial injuries By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com
Photos by H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
Investigators wait for a westbound Metra train to pass before continuing to process the scene Wednesday after an inbound Union Pacific Northwest Line train struck a vehicle near Woodstock at the Lily Pond Road crossing. One person was killed.
By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – One person is dead after their car was hit by a Metra train shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday at Lily Pond Road, a rural crossing between Crystal Lake and Woodstock, a fire official said. No one on the Metra train was injured, but the sole occupant of the vehicle died on the scene, Woodstock Fire Protection District Capt. Brendan Parker said. The train involved in the crash – an inbound train that had been scheduled to arrive in Chicago at 6:23 p.m. – resumed service around 7:45 p.m., more than two and half hours behind schedule, according to Metra alerts. The crash caused extensive delays on the Metra’s North-
west line. Further details about the identity of the driver were not being released Wednesday evening. The vehicle ended up in a ditch about 200 feet east of the intersection, Parker said, adding that it appeared the vehicle was headed south on Lily Pond Road when the crash occurred. The crossing is located at the base of two hills and when headed south, the road makes a quick curve before the tracks, Parker said. Snow had begun to fall shortly before the crash and roads were slick, but as of Wednesday evening, the investigation into the crash still was ongoing. The investigation is being conducted by Union Pacific, which owns the tracks, and the Woodstock Police Department.
An investigator walks past debris after an inbound Union Pacific Northwest Line train struck a vehicle in Woodstock.
Mental Health Board annex finding occupants collaborative efforts to help more people along the way,” Block said. The board’s Buildings and Grounds Committee next month will start reviewing other applications from agencies wanting to occupy the dozen or so offices that will remain after the community foundation and the EDC move in. The expansion, approved by a Mental Health Board and executive leadership that has almost completely changed
fice just next door. And more are coming, Mental Health Board Executive Director Scott Block said. Past Mental Health Board leadership built the expansion anticipating future
growth that never took place, leaving new board members and leadership trying to find ways to fill it in as revenue-neutral a way as possible. While the limited amount the law allows the board to charge will not come close to defraying the bonds that are still being paid off, Block said the expansion could serve to centralize like-minded agencies and bring them together into a hub serving the people of McHenry County. “I feel this will be a welcome use of the building, and foster some bigger-picture
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By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – A half-vacant government building expansion that critics derided as a bad idea may find redemption as a central location for agencies working to improve the lives of McHenry County residents. Occupants soon will start to move in to the 22,000-square-foot annex to the McHenry County Mental Health Board’s headquarters in Crystal Lake. The McHenry County Community Foun-
“I feel this will be a welcome use of the building, and foster some bigger-picture collaborative efforts to help more people along the way.” Scott Block, Mental Health Board executive director on occupants soon moving into the annex dation plans to relocate May 1 from Woodstock to the 620 Dakota St. building, and the McHenry County Economic Development Corp. is expected to follow suit from its current location at a business of-
See OCCUPANTS, page A6
WOODSTOCK – Police arrested a McHenry man for an attack outside a Woodstock bar that left a Woodstock man with several facial fractures. Jacob R. Stanton, 25, of 4815 Chesterfield Lane in McHenry, was charged with three felonies for an aggravated battery that allegedly occurred Jan. 20. Woodstock police received a call about 1 a.m. for report of a man lying on the sidewalk in the area of 200 N. Benton St. with injuries to his face. Jacob R. Randy Oe- Stanton hlerking, 31, was taken to Centegra Hospital – Woodstock for numerous facial fractures, police said. A GoFundMe page set up to raise money for Oehlerking’s medical bills details broken eye sockets, 13 fractured bones in his face, a broken nose, and more injuries to his face and body. An undisclosed amount of money was stolen from Oehlerking, resulting in an additional theft charge against Stanton in addition to the two aggravated battery charges, police said. According to Woodstock Police Sgt. Jeff Parsons, Stanton and Oehlerking had a verbal exchange before the attack. All charges against Stanton are Class 3 felonies, punishable by two to five years in prison. Police said Stanton was arrested Tuesday at the McHenry County Jail, where he’s been held since Jan. 29 on an outstanding warrant for aggravated driving under the influence, marijuana possession and endangering the life of a child.
See ARREST, page A6
Provided photo
Randy Oehlerking was attacked Jan. 20 in the early-morning hours in the 200 block of North Benton Street in Woodstock.
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